Title: Mid Air Ball Collision Lab goal/question: How do the velocities of two objects, each with the same mass and velocity, change when they collide in midair? How about with different launch velocities?
Procedure:
PART 1
1. Get a launcher and a marble. Point the launcher straight up
2. Put the marble in the launcher and push it down until you hear one click.
3. Launch it straight up and measure how high it goes with a meter stick.
4. Then do this with 2 clicks and 3 clicks. (you may need more than 1 meter stick)
Use the equation vf^2=vi^2+2ad to find the launch velocity for each click.
PART 2
1. Get two launchers. Point them opposite to each other, some length apart. (preferably 1.7 m)
2. Push a marble into each and push it down until you hear two clicks. Position the launchers at 70 degrees.
3. Release each lancher at same time so they hit.
4. Record 2-3 trials in your lab notebook.
PART 3
1. Use the same two launchers and keep the distance the same. Point them at each other like before.
2. Push one ball down 2 clicks and position it at 40 degrees.
3. Push the other ball in 1 click and position it at 80 degrees.
4. Release each lancher at same time so they hit.
5. Record 2-3 trials in your lab notebook.
Data/calculations:
0= Vi^2 +2(-9.8)(1.1) (this was our data for 2 clicks)
21.56=Vi^2
Vi=4.64m/s (2 clicks) v=3.62m/s (1 click)
Distance between launchers =1.7m
TRAILS (PART 1)
Hit 1: They glance off each other, going about the same speed they launched from. Different directions however
Hit 2: Same result but they went in linear directions.
TRAILS (PART 2)
Hit 1: higher velocity ball bounces off at launch velocity of the other ball and lower velocity ball bounces off at the other ball's velocity.
Hit 2: same result (different dirrections though)
Hit 3: same result as the first
Reflection/conclusion:
The data we gathered suprised us because we predicted that the balls with the same velocites would just stop and fall to the ground after colliding. The energy just transfered however and they maintained their launch velocities after hitting each other. This supports Newton's third law, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. After seeing this result, we changed our hypothesis for the balls with different launch velocities. We predicted that the ball with the higher velocity would bounce off with the velocity of the other ball and vice versa. The data we gathered confirmed this result. Overall, we believe that this lab was very helpful in understanding collisions and changes in velocity.
Title: Mid Air Ball Collision
Lab goal/question: How do the velocities of two objects, each with the same mass and velocity, change when they collide in midair? How about with different launch velocities?
Procedure:
PART 1
1. Get a launcher and a marble. Point the launcher straight up
2. Put the marble in the launcher and push it down until you hear one click.
3. Launch it straight up and measure how high it goes with a meter stick.
4. Then do this with 2 clicks and 3 clicks. (you may need more than 1 meter stick)
Use the equation vf^2=vi^2+2ad to find the launch velocity for each click.
PART 2
1. Get two launchers. Point them opposite to each other, some length apart. (preferably 1.7 m)
2. Push a marble into each and push it down until you hear two clicks. Position the launchers at 70 degrees.
3. Release each lancher at same time so they hit.
4. Record 2-3 trials in your lab notebook.
PART 3
1. Use the same two launchers and keep the distance the same. Point them at each other like before.
2. Push one ball down 2 clicks and position it at 40 degrees.
3. Push the other ball in 1 click and position it at 80 degrees.
4. Release each lancher at same time so they hit.
5. Record 2-3 trials in your lab notebook.
Data/calculations:
0= Vi^2 +2(-9.8)(1.1) (this was our data for 2 clicks)
21.56=Vi^2
Vi=4.64m/s (2 clicks) v=3.62m/s (1 click)
Distance between launchers =1.7m
TRAILS (PART 1)
Hit 1: They glance off each other, going about the same speed they launched from. Different directions however
Hit 2: Same result but they went in linear directions.
TRAILS (PART 2)
Hit 1: higher velocity ball bounces off at launch velocity of the other ball and lower velocity ball bounces off at the other ball's velocity.
Hit 2: same result (different dirrections though)
Hit 3: same result as the first
Reflection/conclusion:
The data we gathered suprised us because we predicted that the balls with the same velocites would just stop and fall to the ground after colliding. The energy just transfered however and they maintained their launch velocities after hitting each other. This supports Newton's third law, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. After seeing this result, we changed our hypothesis for the balls with different launch velocities. We predicted that the ball with the higher velocity would bounce off with the velocity of the other ball and vice versa. The data we gathered confirmed this result. Overall, we believe that this lab was very helpful in understanding collisions and changes in velocity.